Baked Apples on the Tree in July

Apple baked on the readers tree and now rotting

Q. Aloha, Bob. I have this problem. Our Apple and tomato crop has been developing brown areas usually on their bottoms. I am attaching three photos so that you see what I am writing about. Our apples seem okay except for the brown spots but, our tomatoes also develop cracks at times, usually about half way to maturity. Can you help? If it's any help to you, we live in the northwest part of the valley two blocks from the Santa Fe Station Casino.

Apples on the readers tree

A. The apples on the tree looked like Anna.  Is that correct?  This is high temperature damage to the fruit.  They basically cooked on the tree.  I have had this same problem with Anna apples at the Orchard. Cut the apples open and look inside the core to make sure that there were seeds developing and check to see what stage of development they were.  When an apple fruit is mature the seeds will be dark brown with maybe the pointed tip still white.  I just want to make sure that the fruit was mature and that you had pollination for fruit development.  If there are seeds present, then it makes it more conclusive that it is due mostly to high temperatures.



Anna apple with high temperature damage
at the UNCE Orchard

I want to add that you did a great job thinning your apples at the right time to get that size.

Apple fruit at beginning stages
of sunburn

Apple at advanced stages
of sunburn

If this is Anna apple they are pretty good at handling high temp stress.  They mature early and you can often times get them off the tree before the hot weather can do substantial damage.  I typically do not like apple trees which have fruit that matures at the peak of our summer temps.  I usually prefer apple trees that produce fruit late, such as mid September through November. 

I also like apple trees that produce enough leaf cover or canopy to shade the fruit and not have it exposed directly to sunlight.  Exposed fruit can be damaged by sunscald, a different problem but related to high light intensity that produces a lot of surface heat on the fruit and causes the fruit to discolor on the side exposed to the sun. 

I think producing its fruit in November is one reason Pink Lady apple does so well in our climate besides just having a wonderful balance of sugars and acidity and a great flavor profile of sweetness and acidity.

I am thinking, again if this is an Anna, that it might be due to a long cool spring and summer we had followed by the onslaught a very high temps, very quickly when the fruit was maturing.  Again, if this is an Anna, I don’t think you’ll see this again in future years unless we have a repeat of these weather conditions.